The Democratic Alliance (DA) has received replies to two parliamentary questions, to the Department of Police and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ), which together confirm that at no stage was the Chairperson of the ANC in the Free State, Mr Ace Magashule, under investigation by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The replies contradict two December 2008 statements by ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus, which explicitly stated that the NPA was engaged in a "politically motivated" investigation against Mr Magashule, and suggested that the ANC was deliberately trying to malign the NPA and undermine its independence, ahead of Jacob Zuma's trial and the dissolution of the Scorpions.

A copy of each reply is available on request.

On 21 and 22 December Carl Niehaus released two media statements about Mr Magashule. The first claimed that the Scorpions were involved in a "politically motivated investigation" and even "a threatened arrest" against the Chairperson of the ANC in the Free State. It claimed this was being done "in the run-up to the Free State Provincial Conference" in order to "prevent Mr Magashule from being elected as Chairperson". It argued that this followed a pattern of behaviour on the part of the NPA, like that pursued with Jacob Zuma, where "political" considerations and not the pursuit of justice, were determining the NPA's agenda.

In its subsequent statement, the ANC claimed that a memorandum by some members of the NPA confirmed this and that there was an "increasing pattern of politically motivated actions by the NPA" of which senior members of the ANC "had been the victims". The ANC demanded a copy of the memorandum from the NPA.

At the time, my colleague Dianne Kohler Barnard, who had seen the memorandum, argued that it in no way constituted evidence that the NPA had acted improperly with regards to Mr Magashule. The ANC itself was unable to produce any hard evidence in support of its claim. The claim was also vehemently denied by the NPA itself.

The two replies confirm that neither the police nor the NPA nor the Special Investigating Unit were at any stage investigating Mr Magashule, or that any such investigation has ever taken place. The DoJ further states that "the SIU has not been contacted by any political party to obtain information".

On the available evidence, then, it would appear that the ANC was deliberately trying to malign the NPA and the Scorpions ahead of Jacob Zuma's trial and the SIU's dissolution in January 2009. Its attack on both institutions was designed to garner support for the narrative that there was a deliberate campaign against Jacob Zuma and his supporters; it was unable to produce any evidence in support of its claims and, despite demanding a copy of the memorandum in question, it never bothered to contact the NPA or the SIU.

Ironically, the ANC's statements and its attack on the NPA were clearly designed to achieve the very things they accused the NPA of: to fuel a political campaign to smear these institutions, undermine theirindependence and protect senior ANC members from prosecution. They are an indictment of the ruling party and its attitude towards the justice system.